Paladin AoE: How Many Mobs Should You Pull?

14May

How many mobs to you pull when you are AoE grinding while a Prot Paladin? This is a question that pops up frequently when I check to see what terms are used in search engines that find my blog. The answer to this question, once again, is a vague one at best. The answer is both simple and complex.

In short, you pull as many as you possibly can…and still survive.

Disclaimer: Please note that this is a general guideline. There are far too many variables to simply throw out exact numbers. Where I might have pulled 13 mobs and ended the fight with full health and mana, you may have had to bubble and/or LoH to survive fighting only 8, or I may have struggled with 6 where you brutalized 10. Gear, enchants, experience soloing, etc. – it all makes a difference, and we all have differences in each.

The following information assumes that you are grinding solo, and is meant to be used simply as a general guideline to help you decide how many mobs you should pull in a given area.

The Basics

Minimum: Generally speaking, you never want to pull less than 3 mobs if you have an opportunity to pull more. My personal preference on a minimum is 5 once I have reached at least level 40. If I am grinding in a new area for the first time, even at high levels, then I always like to start with 3 and then judge from how I do against those three, how many I should pull the next time.

Maximum: This number is the one hit by all of the variables. If you are fighting mobs that are approximately your own level, then until you get above level 50, you probably do not want to take on more than 9 mobs in general.

Level: Your level has quite an impact on how many mobs you can handle. The lower you are, the fewer abilities you have to help grind the mobs down, the fewer hit points you have to spend while trying to kill them, and the fewer bonuses you are able to get from your gear. If you are below level 30, then you want to aim a little lower, probably 3-6 mobs in most cases. If you are below level 40, then you can probably handle closer to 5-7 mobs. After level 50 then you can move on to 5-9 mobs. Once you pass level 60 you can take on 5-13 in most cases. These numbers assume that you are fighting mobs that are equal to you in level.

Variables

Level Relation: What level are the mobs in relation to you? Common sense plays a factor here in that you can pull more mobs of a lower level than you can of a higher level.

Level -6 or more: The lower they are, the more numerous they fall. When fighting mobs of such a low level, feel free to pull as many as you can find. Unless they are elite mobs, or there are multiple spell casters, then you should have no trouble at all with a large group of these mobs. Mathematically, this variable equals: +5 mobs, or x2 mobs, whichever is greater while still remaining possible.

Level -3,4,5: With mobs that are 3-5 levels lower than you, feel free to add 3-5 more of those mobs to your pull. If you still find the fight to be overwhelmingly easy, then throw another 5 into the mix. If it’s still a breeze, meaning you had no need to heal/bubble/LoH, then go ahead and pull as many as you can find. So for mathematical purposes, this variable equals: +3, +4, or +5 depending on how comfortable you are.

Level +/- 2: If the mobs you are fighting are pretty well equal to your level, meaning they might be a couple levels above or below you, then go ahead and stick to the basic guidelines above. This variable equals: -1, +0, or +1

Level +3,4: If the mobs are 3-4 levels higher than me, then I like to play it safe and go with my default minimum pull of 5 mobs. If they happen to be large mobs, like ogres and giants and such, then I might go ahead and pull only three. Variable equals: -2, -1, or -0

Level +5: When I fight mobs that are 5 levels higher than me, and yes it does happen, then I like to start off with a single mob. With mobs this much higher than you, you know that your abilities are going to do less damage, your chance to hit is going to drop significantly, and they are going to hit you harder. When I find myself in an area with high level mobs, I test myself against one of them to get an idea of whether or not I want to bother coming back, leave the area all together, or go ahead and push on through despite their higher levels. See the “Randomization” section below for an idea of how to handle these.

Randomization: Sometimes mobs are just plain easy. When you find that regardless of the guidelines that I have laid out above you just rush straight through the mobs without a hitch, then by all means go crazy and pull them by the screen-full. Some mobs just happen to be easier to take on than others, even if they might be several levels higher; that’s just the way it is.

Be aware though that the exact opposite is also true. There may be times that you come up on a group of mobs expecting them all to just hand over their loot and save you the time of killing them, only to find yourself spirit running back to your corpse after taking on just two of them. If you find yourself facing mobs that are too hard then you need to take a moment to consider the situation. Either you need to find another place to grind, or you need to be willing to pull smaller numbers.

Testing It Out
Now, as I pointed out in the Randomization section above, sometimes you find groups that are just easier or harder than they should be level-wise. Unless you have been in the area before, or have researched it a bit online, then probably have no idea how those mobs are going to act and how you are going to do against them. At times like these you have to just test it out and see what you can do.

Go round up about three of the mobs and have a go at them. Keep an eye on how quickly your health drops, and how much mana you have to use. When the fight is over, take a look at how you stand on health and mana so that you can get an idea of whether you will be able to go in a near continuous pull in this area, or if you might have to stop to drink or heal between pulls.

Ask yourself the follow questions during and after the fight: Is your health bar dropping too fast? Are you going all-out with your attack powers and seeing very little impact on their health bars? Are the mobs actually able to cast harmful spells when you thought they were strictly melee?

Get an idea of what the other fights are going to be like if you continue to pull in the area and then imagine how you are going to do. For all the times you wipe from testing new mobs, which should actually be a rather rare occurrence, they will easily be outweighed by the number of times you should have died (if you were anything other than a Paladin) but instead managed to pull off the feat all by yourself.